1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to evaporative coolers and more particularly to a moisture entrainment baffle for use in the water distribution troughs of the cooler pads of an evaporative cooler.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the well known highly developed art of evaporative coolers it is customary to locate an electrically driven centrifugal blower within the cooler cabinet to draw ambient air through wetted cooler pad assemblies which are mounted in the sides of the cabinet. Air moving through the pads is cooled by evaporation and supplied to a space to be cooled, such as a house, by the centrifugal blower. The cooler pad assemblies are wetted by the evaporative cooler's water distribution system which includes, among other things, an elongated V-shaped trough in each of the cooler pad assemblies for receiving water from a suitable plumbing network and distributing the received water evenly across the top of the pads through spaced slots formed in the troughs.
In such structures, the centrifugal blower creates a negative static pressure within the evaporative cooler cabinet and ambient air will move into the interior of the cabinet at relatively high velocities. The moistened cooler pads will offer some resistance to the movement of incoming ambient air, and wherever possible the air will move in air leakage paths of less resistance.
One such air leakage path entering into an evaporative cooler cabinet has been found to exist through the water outlet slots provided in the water distribution troughs, and this incoming air will entrain or pick up, moisture in the form of water droplets from the water in those troughs. The entrained moisture is deposited on the various components of the evaporative cooler, which, in addition to contributing to the corrosion and mineral deposition on the cooler components has, in some instances, caused failure of the electric motor used to drive the centrifugal blower.
To the best of my knowledge, no device has been developed or proposed for blocking the moisture entrained by air passing into an evaporative cooler through the water outlet slots formed in the water distribution troughs thereof.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and useful moisture entrainment baffle for use in evaporative coolers which overcomes some of the problems of the prior art.